For Cal

[hisfathersimage]

It was two months after Endor.

A perfectly normal (for him) night's sleep was interrupted. It was like a mental hiccup, or a system reboot. He wasn't aware of anything and then-

The bond snapped into place before he gained awareness. It was old and young and familiar, a previously cautious candlelight that felt closer to a hearthfire now, tempered and warming and clear. The memories rushed back as he woke, sitting up with a choked gasp and a flare of Force awareness and anxiety bright enough that he felt Leia awaken on the otherside of the system with it.

He couldn't explain to her. To anyone. All he could do was throw on clothes as he went, grabbing the bare necessities and choking out something about 'Jedi business, another Jedi, I can feel him' before he was loading up R2 and the X-Wing.

Outer Rim.

He went to Botajef. Intersection of major hyperspace lanes. Near Dathomir, near Yavin, it felt significant and right.

And once he was there, he set himself outside of the main city and he reached out, along the bond and just in general, because he knows the bond is good, but at the same time, he isn't confident about it.

Cal Kestis. I'm here. I know you.

Comments

[hisfathersimage]

"Mm." Humming, Luke wriggles and then pushes, rolling them over to put Cal on his back, sitting astride him. "Too hard?" He shifts his weight suggestively, looking pleased with himself for his dumb pun.

[bunchofscrewups]

He doesn't expect to be flipped over and for a moment he's purely confused. Luke's weight settling on him helps him register what's actually happening, and finally the pun makes him sputter and laugh.

"Shut up!"

The shove he gives Luke's stomach is halfhearted, but still firm enough that Luke might fall over if he doesn't focus.

[hisfathersimage]

Luke laughs and holds onto Cal's body with his knees, keeping his balance easily as Cal pushes him. "You love it!" He shifts his weight forward, hands on Cal's chest. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

[bunchofscrewups]

With a huff and a smile, he puts his hands over Luke's.

"You've got me there."

Because this is, of course, one of the many things he's missed. Messing around, playing, telling bad jokes.

"All right, you've forced me to move. Get off me so we can shower."

[hisfathersimage]

There's a momentary thought to refuse, to make Cal manhandle him to get up but he quashes it just as fast. They need a shower. Need.

He flops off to the side for a long stretch, shamelessly naked and uncovered and relaxing with a sigh. "Okay, yeah, wash time. We smell worse than wet Wookie."

[bunchofscrewups]

First, he's distracted by the stretch, his gaze involuntary travelling from top to toe to take in the view. Then, he's distracted by the words that prompt the memory of freeing wookies from the Imperial factory on Kashyyyk, the rather terrifying hug he got from one of them. Those wookies smelled bad, but it was obviously not their fault. And he's not about to make a joke about that, so he doesn't say anything.

Instead, he kisses Luke's cheek, and finally gets out of bed.

[hisfathersimage]

There's flickers of emotions from Cal, some good, some less so, but Cal's letting them go so Luke does the same. He gives a huff as he pushes himself upright and shuffles down to the foot of the bed to get up. Standing involves another stretch and cracking his spine out before heading for the fresher.

[bunchofscrewups]

Cal more or less mirrors that, stretching with a satisfied sound, then following on Luke's heel. The mention of wookies makes him think more about Kashyyyk, and reminds him of a conversation they had once, all that time ago.

"I wonder if my Shyyyo bird friend is still alive. I haven't been back to Kashyyyk in a long time."

[hisfathersimage]

Luke futzes about the shower settings for a moment, then reaches to try and grab Cal and pull him close. "I could ask Chewie to ask about, if you want? Or we could make the trip out there at some point."

[bunchofscrewups]

And he goes along with the pull, of course, sliding his arm around Luke's waist.

"You can ask him, and we can make the trip out there. I'm sure they could use all the help they can get, considering how much the Empire targeted them, and probably still does."

Because, as much as he might like it to be, he doubts it would be any kind of relaxing, fun vacation.

[hisfathersimage]

Luke steps under the water and guides Cal under with him, rinsing them both down before stepping around in the stall. "We could. And I know Han and Lando would rustle up some troops if it was for Kashyyyk."

The liquid soap comes to his hand and he pools some out. "Turn."

[bunchofscrewups]

The heat of the water rushing over his skin is heavenly, and he closes his eyes with a content sigh. Yeah, they're definitely staying here for a good long while. It's been far too long since he had a shower like this.


When Luke mentions Han, it conjures a few more vague memories. They never really talked much in Duplicity, but knowing he mattered to Luke, he'd made some effort to know what he looked like.

He can't quite remember now. He just knows they at least had a brief conversation about something or other.

He turns as asked, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Something to think about."

But not now, more than they already have. Today is purely for enjoying each other's company, as much as they can.

[hisfathersimage]

The Han in Duplicity was one that Luke could barely see his friend in. He was young and obsessed with someone Luke could barely stand and it had been so awkward, even if he loved the man that one would become.

Luke lathers up the soap a little before starting to run his hands over Cal's back. It's to wash, and to learn, and enjoy all at once. "You've got new scars. I wish I'd been there for them." He traces an old, but unfamiliar one.

[bunchofscrewups]

Naturally, his back is a place he's not particularly familiar with how it looks. There are mirrors, but he doesn't always have access to one and, when he does, he doesn't care to study his back to closely. So he doesn't think that Luke's doing anything but washing it, really, until he speaks.

"Oh, yeah." Of course there would be plenty of them. "I'd offer to tell you, but I don't think I remember most of them."

He's been hurt so many times, he really only remembers the very bad ones.

[hisfathersimage]

Luke understands the feeling. For the first year in Duplicity, he had avoided looking at his still healing scars. It's been odd, waking up and finding them raw and pinked again, only two months into healing, not two years.

"Yeah. I know what you mean with that. There's a point where anything that didn't need a med-droid becomes forgettable." He still presses a kiss to either end of this scar, then digs his thumbs into either side of Cal's spine to work on the knots there.

[bunchofscrewups]

The kisses get an involuntary shiver, but not a bad one, and he smiles a little to himself.

"Yeah, exactly."

After so many years being alone so often, he hasn't really had anyone pay attention to knots or tension, which means there's quite a lot of it. Which means that when Luke digs in, even though Cal's used to pain, it's enough for him to involuntarily hiss in response, though he keeps it quiet. He doesn't want to discourage it, because he knows very well he needs it.

Although Luke probably also knows he needs it.

[hisfathersimage]

Luke shushes Cal gently. He knows it hurts, but Cal needs it. He's not trying for anything complex, just a little nudging at the worst bits along Cal's spine. Thumbs sliding up, down, pausing to push in a tender spot and kissing it in apology as he moves on again.

"I'm going to make sure you look after yourself from now on. I can only imagine the trouble you got into without me."

[bunchofscrewups]

Hardly the worst pain he's felt, and with the first twinge out of the way, the rest is easier to deal with. Instead, there's just a pleased hum at the kiss, and a fond smile at the reassurances. Of course, Luke wouldn't have changed much, but it makes him feel oddly young.

"Oh, the Empire was paying a lot for my head for a few years."

[hisfathersimage]

"I bet they were." The bounties could get slightly ridiculous once there was a suspicion of a Force user, or you made enough things explode.

Cal might be older than Luke now, but for two years, he was Luke's junior and a few hours together was hardly enough to change that attitude. A few months might not do it.

Luke presses another kiss to a tender spot as he lets it go. "Did you break the hundred thousand credit barrier?"

[bunchofscrewups]

He chuckles quietly.

"Oh, yeah. Easy."

The longer he, a Jedi, escaped them, the more they were willing to pay both to catch him but also to keep quiet about who he really was. Things eventually got to a point where they weren't willing to give away that there were still Jedi around at all.

[hisfathersimage]

And then some idiot with a lightsaber turned up and became a public face of the Rebellion. Another kiss gets pressed to Cal's shoulder, his spine, absent minded affection. "Leia's hit ten million after Yavin. Highest Imperial bounty at the time."

[bunchofscrewups]

"Oh, wow. I was never close to that."

Or, well, maybe that depends how you look at it. He definitely reached several hundred thousand credits. Honestly, he can't quite remember. Especially not with Luke kissing him all over like that.

[hisfathersimage]

"Me either." And Luke had hit pretty high up on the bounty list.

He slides his arms around Cal's waist, pressing up against his back to kiss the back of his neck. "I wish I'd remembered sooner. Imagine the bounty we could've racked up together."

[bunchofscrewups]

With a pleased hum, he leans back into Luke, letting his eyes fall shut. Too loud laster could disturb the peace, he thinks, so his is quiet, but he couldn't not. The two of them tearing through the Empire's outposts together, disrupting their operations everywhere they went.

"And it wouldn't make a difference at all. No one could stop us."

He believes that wholeheartedly.

[hisfathersimage]

Luke hums and presses his mouth to Cal's shoulder, not much a kiss as just open mouth resting. Things unfolded how they had to, for better or worse. The cancer of Palpatine's presence could start to be excised from the galaxy now.

"Still. Hell of a number to think about."